Customer Relationship Management – 4 clear benefits

Customer Relationship Management for better business

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system that looks to improve the relationship with current customers, finding new prospective ones, and also win back former clients.

A CRM software system can be implemented in a business relatively quickly to facilitate collecting data, organising and managing customer information, measuring customer interaction and sales performance.

The purpose of any CRM system is to enable a business to build better customer relationships which ultimately lead to increased company revenue and more satisfied customers through enhanced user experience.

Implementing an effective CRM strategy can be of benefit to businesses that are both large and small in scale. Here is a look at some key advantages CRM can bring:

1. Improved data accessibility through centralisation

Implementing CRM software enables you to centralize all your sales, marketing and customer data in one location. Having this accessibility means you could potentially have fewer silos in your business and move towards a more customer centric approach.

Customer data collected can include contact numbers, addresses and information such as when the last contact was made and actions for follow up.

From a GDPR perspective, CRM software records every action which is important in being compliant.

Such information can then be used to manage, measure and keep track of marketing activities, sales and customer feedback.

2. Increased business revenues

Using a CRM system means that you can increase company profits to a good extent. By analysing data collected you will be able to ensure marketing is targeted in a more effective data driven way. You can ensure promotional campaigns for products reach new sets of customers through segmentation and not just exiting ones to build value.

3. Greater customer satisfaction

CRM systems support strategies which place the customer at the heart of operations. A Gartner report called “Improving the Customer Experience” highlighted that “a valuable customer experience is an integral part of CRM. Through time a CRM will collect customer data which can be analysed to maintain quality customer experience which encourages loyalty to the business. Poor user experience can often lead to a higher customer churn rate.

4. End to end automation of lead process

A CRM has the ability to automate the lead management process. For example, a lead may come in from a variety of channels which could be from a website, social media, or an event/seminar. With this number of channels it is difficult to lose track of the lead and which person or department is ultimately responsible for logging, determining where it should be assigned and following it up. A clearly defined CRM workflow will ensure full visibility of the lead process, sales productivity and full customer life cycle.

Conclusion

B2B buyers are now more confident and aware of what they want. This is due to the internet and the ability for people to search and buy freely by looking at information gathered from blogs, social media and other online channels which all help to influence the purchasing decision.

Buyers now, want to be treated as individuals. They want to know that their businesses matters and that a business or organisation cares about them.

Good Customer Relationship Management systems can help to make all the difference. Both from a customer acquisition and retention point of view ensuring ongoing quality and improvement. Happy customers often lead to repeat business and better bottom lines.

To learn more about how business management software could drive your company growth, call Clarity Software on +44 (0)121 248 2448 or visit www.clarity-software.com